_edited.jpg)
We're welcoming you to Pitchside Guide's thoughts on the recent revealing of the planning process behind the Republic of Ireland's joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup alongside the UK.
Where do we even begin? At first glance, the idea just sounds like a complete dream to all Republic of Ireland fans. The image of having the world's best battling it out in the Aviva would be definitely something to look forward to. However, is this going to be a picture that is going to be sold to us and reality decides different? Let's be honest, nobody wants to host the low profile games. Let's have a look at the factors which may play a role.
You may know what I'm going to mention next, will the most recent John Delaney/FAI mess come back to haunt us? Reputation is something national governing bodies such as the FAI depend on to achieve success. Unfortunately for us fans, reputation isn't quite a word we can boast about when we refer back to the FAI. We as a country thrive on the loyalty and passion of our fans and the FAI dampens that image a tad. The reputation and the crippling debt of the FAI are factors that will be assessed by FIFA when selecting the hosts. A more optimistic viewpoint would be maybe a successfully run stint of World Cup games could boost the FAI's reputation of an organisation. However, in our opinion, only Ireland winning the actual tournament could help that issue. In our defence as a country, standards in terms of corruptness aren't exactly high in football, with the host decision makers being previously renowned frauds.
Continuing on with another political topic, let's have a look at our potential fellow hosts. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be hosting alongside the Republic of Ireland. Years ago, the thoughts of this partnership would not have even been considered. Politics aside, all five countries are bitter rivals as it is so are the close working relationships realistic scenarios? We believe if this idea went ahead, it definitely could work with some tongue biting and with a hired mediator on hand. Fans have one common dream, hosting the World Cup!
We'd like to leave the politics for another website but this is a topic where it needs to be addressed. Previous hosts of the World Cup have experienced severe economic problems as a result of the tournaments. South Africa and Brazil are recent examples that we can refer to. Both countries have seen how the poor definitely don't benefit from a tournament of this magnitude. Homelessness is a problem we can relate to in our own country and we personally feel a problem like that, needs to be solved before considering hosting an event of this scale. Tourism may be booming in Dublin during the few weeks of the competition but remember, that will only be during that stint. Also, maybe attendance numbers are going to be permanently reduced because of Covid-19, who knows?
The mentioning of attendance numbers brings us to the next vital factor, venues. We proudly play in the Landsdowne Road fortress, the Aviva Stadium, but where else could we host matches? Of course Croke Park is another major venue but plans may clash with the GAA fixtures. All other potential venues such as Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Thomond Park have less than 50,000 capacity and would also cause disruption with other sports. Unfortunately, the building of new stadiums and revamping of current venues would be extremely financially straining and in our opinion, would be a disgrace in terms of ignoring more important problems.
To conclude, Pitchside Guide don't feel hosting would be a realistic scenario for the reasons discussed above. This is a topic of discussion so make sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments or via our social media pages!
Comments